If we told you that Albania has just appointed its first AI minister, you’d probably assume that someone has been put in charge of overseeing policy related to artificial intelligence. But you’d be wrong. Because what it actually means is that the minister is an AI-powered avatar.
The world’s first AI-powered minister, called Diella (meaning “sunshine” in Albanian), is actually the Minister for Public Procurement. And yes, it all feels a bit odd.
Appointed this month, Diella is supposed to be entirely corruption-free and fully transparent, with the AI element apparently helping to ensure that from hereon in, public tenders will be conducted efficiently and without political influence or misconduct. Diella also powers e-Albania, a platform offering digital access to government services.
Strictly speaking, Diella is a government-appointed AI with ministerial functions, but lacks the formal legal and constitutional status of a human minister. Still, the excitement around the bizarre appointment hasn’t stopped Albanian prime minister Edi Rama going so far as to suggest that one day even his role might be performed by AI.
Diella was introduced to the people of Albania, population 2.7 million, in a video (top) released by the government, which, for now at least, remains mostly made up of humans.
“Some have labelled me unconstitutional because I am not a human being,” the unelected Diella says in the video, adding that “the real danger to constitutions has never been machines, but human decisions made by those in power.”
The virtual assistant insists it is “not here to replace human beings, but to help them,” adding: “Indeed, I have no citizenship but I have no ambitions or personal interests either. I only have data at my disposal. I am eager to learn new information, and I have algorithms at my disposal, so that I can put all of this at the service of citizens, with impartiality, transparency, and without ever tiring.”
But Diella’s arrival has not gone down well with opposition parties, with former prime minister and opposition leader Sali Berisha commenting that “the goal is nothing more than to attract attention.”
Berisha added: “It is impossible to curb corruption with Diella. Who will control Diella? Diella is unconstitutional, and the Democratic Party will take the matter to the Constitutional Court.”
Albania currently ranks 80th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s corruption index and needs to clean up its act if it’s to have any chance of achieving its ambition of joining the European Union. By comparison, the U.S. ranks 27th and the U.K. 20th, while the bottom two countries are Somalia and South Sudan. Denmark and Finland come top.
It’s certainly going to be fascinating to see how Dellia performs and whether other governments follow suit and deploy their own AI-powered ministers. While AI can certainly be used in the machinery of government to speed up decision-making and provide services for citizens, actually fronting a government department with the technology is an extraordinary step.
Some observers may believe that “it couldn’t do any worse than the current lot” … but maybe it could. Truth be told, a government full of AI-powered avatars seems a long way off.
